Chapter 341: Xue Meng's Blind Date: Wanning Gets Hoisted By His Own Petard

For safety's sake, before the formal meeting with the Scroll Demon, Elder Chen of Peach Bud Manor asked Xue Meng to visit Chu Wanning, who wore an Illusionary Shape Incense Pouch, to see if there were any objections and if he met Xue Meng's aesthetic standards.

But Xue Meng was still angry at Mei Hanxue, his chest tight with frustration. When Chen Xuyuan approached, Xue Meng massaged his chest in anger and said, "Nonsense! What could I possibly be dissatisfied with? My Master is the best in every way!"

Chen Xuyuan replied, "Oh, Sect Leader Xue, he may be your master, but he isn't the Scroll Demon's. You need to put aside your personal bias and view Master Chu anew. You must understand that the Scroll Demon has no personal feelings, so please regard Master Chu as a stranger and scrutinize him once more to see if he truly meets all your requirements."

"Rubbish! How can my admiration for my Master be a result of bias?" Xue Meng widened his eyes. "Let me tell you, if the Worry-Free Scroll had made me imagine my Master before, even if I didn't know who he was, I would still have found him the most outstanding person in the world without a doubt!"

Despite Xue Meng's firm declaration, Chen Xuyuan insisted, "No, no, we should still conduct a test, just to be sure." With that, he gently pushed Xue Meng towards the room where Chu Wanning was.

However, as Xue Meng stood outside the guest room and looked up at the door, he froze in shock.

This... wasn't this the very guest room Chu Wanning had occupied when they first arrived at Peach Bud Manor?!!

Back then, Xue Meng had unknowingly barged in on Chu Wanning and Mo Ran, forcing Mo Ran to hide behind the bed curtains. It was later that Xue Meng realized Chu Wanning's watery gaze and flushed cheeks weren't due to a fever, but because of...

Stop! Those memories were too painful to revisit!

Determined to avoid repeating the past, Xue Meng decided that this time, he must make sure they knew he was here, especially Mo Ran! He would not allow Mo Ran to do such shameful and absurd things again! Never!

So he began pacing back and forth at the entrance, deliberately coughing loudly, afraid that his actions weren't loud enough. He stomped on the green stone bricks with all his might. He jumped, spun, and stomped again...

The door creaked open.

Mo Ran, dressed neatly and handsome as ever, stood in the doorway, staring at him as if he had seen a ghost. "…What are you doing?"

Xue Meng was in the middle of a 'Falling Wild Geese' posture when he heard the sound and turned his head. He opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Chu Wanning's cold voice echoed from inside, "Mo Ran, is there a vengeful female spirit haunting the courtyard?"

Mo Ran chuckled. "Oh, no, it's Xue Meng."

He then lowered his voice, lowering his eyelids as he asked with a smile, "If you came, you could've just knocked. All that coughing, stomping, and pacing outside made us think there was a ghost in the yard."

Xue Meng retracted his pose, about to spit at his elder brother's handsome face when he heard Chu Wanning's voice from inside, "Since the Lord has arrived, why are you blocking the way? Let him in."

"…" Although he knew that as the new leader, Chu Wanning, as the Jade Scale Elder of Death's Peak, should address him as the Lord, the title still felt suffocating to Xue Meng.

Mo Ran smiled and shifted his tall, upright body aside. "Go in."

Xue Meng huffed irritably, "I'm here to have a private conversation with my master. You can leave."

"Oh... you're here to rehearse how to deal with the scroll demon?" Mo Ran was quite magnanimous and didn't argue with Xue Meng. He chuckled and said, "Elder Chen has already told us. It's indeed time for a rehearsal to avoid any accidents."

"There won't be any accidents," Xue Meng crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Since that demon is mimicking me, it should think that Master is impeccable!"

"That's not necessarily true." Mo Ran shared the same thoughts as Elder Chen. He patted Xue Meng on the shoulder. "From what I see, you find him impeccable because he's your master. If you had gone on a blind date and met Master instead of 'the cold palace,' I bet you would've argued with him too, without knowing his identity."

"You're talking nonsense!"

Mo Ran didn't argue and simply smiled, tilting his head to make way for Xue Meng. He calmly went outside to wait.

Before Xue Meng could say anything, his eyes widened slightly in surprise—

Chu Wanning had already put on the Illusory Incense Pouch. Therefore, in Xue Meng's eyes, the figure standing by the window was a tall and elegant fairy maiden in white.

Her skin was translucent like a white lotus in the still of the night, icy-white and ethereal. Her slender neck peeked out from the collar of her snowy silk robe, casting a hazy glow upon her taut skin under the candlelight. It fell on her full forehead, her long, slightly drooping eyelashes, the curved bridge of her nose, and finally, her thin lips resembling delicate incense tablets.

At last, the lantern's flickering flame cast a warm, yellowish glow on her refined chin, ending gently.

It turned out that Chu Wanning's opposite-gender illusion was like this.

Xue Meng stammered, "M-Master..."

"Hmm?"

Chu Wanning acknowledged the sound, setting down the long-handled silver ladle he had been using to tend the lantern flame. He turned around.

Ordinarily, someone with such features would be considered incredibly beautiful, but the immortal maiden Chu Wanning had conjured exuded an icy dignity and aloofness that pierced to the bone. Especially those eyes, beneath the long brows, with their natural allure and the hint of a blush like dew on a peach blossom. Yet, there was a remarkable clarity and restraint in her gaze.

She was beautiful, yes, but a cold beauty that inspired awe and distance.

Chu Wanning glanced at him. "A bit unsightly."

"..." Xue Meng was stunned. "Huh?"

"I might scare the scroll demon away," Chu Wanning said solemnly.

Only then did Xue Meng realize what was happening. He quickly protested, "What? No, no, no! Of course not! It looks great, Master! You look absolutely stunning!"

Chu Wanning had never been particularly confident in his looks. In both his lifetimes, he had seen countless beauties, and not counting Mo Ran himself, there were Shi Mingjing and Song Qiutong, all of whom were unparalleled in their charm. Chu Wanning was well aware that his appearance was fierce and unapproachable.

It was evident from Xue Meng's flustered state.

Only Mo Ran didn't disdain him.

Shaking his head, Chu Wanning said to Xue Meng, "Sit down."

Xue Meng sat down at the table with a reserved and obedient demeanor.

Chu Wanning sat opposite him, brushing his sleeves as he poured two cups of clear tea. Lifting his gaze, he asked, "Inadequate looks can be compensated by one's character. Tell me about your requirements for a lady?"

Back at Peach Bud Manor, in front of everyone, Xue Meng had enumerated over three hundred demands. But now, faced with Chu Wanning's question, he fell silent.

He cared most about presenting himself as mature and sensible in front of Chu Wanning. It would be embarrassing for him to list conditions for his master to act out with the scroll demon according to those demands.

After some hesitation, he confessed guiltily, "I... I don't really have any requirements. Just... alive, and female, that's enough."

Chu Wanning paused in his act of sipping tea, gazing at him through the misty vapor, "Is that so."

"Y-yes, that's right. For daily life, it's good enough to just get by. No need for high demands."

"But I've heard differently," Chu Wanning lifted his eyelids with a hint of coolness. "You had quite a few conditions, didn't you?"

Xue Meng hurriedly waved his hands. "N-no, no way. That's not how it is at all. T-they just misunderstood me and made up stories."

"So I don't need to be diligent and clean the house?"

Xue Meng immediately replied, "How could I let you do that? I prefer someone who can't even wash their own clothes!"

"Don't need to see you off standing and welcome you back kneeling?"

"Hmmph, I'm not from the Eastern Land."

"Not required to be obedient and composed, never fighting back when hit or arguing when scolded?"

"Nope! I like fiery personalities."

"....Not needed to be able to cook?"

"His hands mustn't even touch the purest spring water!" Xue Meng declared. "I'll be furious if you try to take my cooking utensils!"

Chu Wanning raised an eyebrow slightly. "I recall that you didn't have a fondness for cooking before."

"A new... new hobby," Xue Meng stammered in explanation. "I've just started enjoying it recently."

Chu Wanning paused, then asked finally, "... Does he not need his elders' approval?"

"No, I can decide for myself who I like!"

The questioning took almost half an hour, but they eventually concluded the conversation smoothly. Xue Meng left, feeling uneasy. When Mo Ran entered, he asked with interest, "Wanning, Wanning, how did it go? Did he make many demands?"

Chu Wanning shook his head. "There was nothing too harsh. It was just a misunderstanding. Xue Meng has indeed become much more sensible these past two years. I'm very relieved."

Mo Ran: "..."

As someone who had often deceived his teachers and lied to avoid punishment from his master back then, Mo Ran instinctively felt that something was off. Why did it feel like there was some sort of scheme going on, that Xue Meng wasn't actually more sensible, but that the honest Chu Wanning had been duped...

It was late at night, around the ninth hour of the night.

A disciple from Peach Bud Manor reported that the Scroll Demon had appeared at a Chu Guan in the southern part of the city, demanding to see the establishment's most skilled courtesan. However, all the women who had encountered the Scroll Demon before had undergone drastic personality changes, some growing chest hair, others turning into shrews. How could the madam possibly be willing to expose her courtesan to such a fate?

Fortunately, cultivators from Peach Bud Manor arrived promptly, instructing her to send a few people to distract the demon while they fetched Master Chu for assistance.

"We've already discreetly removed the courtesan from her quarters. Master Chu, we'll need your help now. Please stall for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea so that the intoxicating powder can take effect on the demon!"

Chu Wanning thought to himself that the Scroll Demon had taken on the form appealing to Xue Meng's tastes. Despite the demon's unpredictable nature, Xue Meng was a sensible and well-behaved child. Surely, there couldn't be much trouble dealing with it.

As it turned out, Chu Wanning was dead wrong.

His three disciples, Mo Ran used to be insincere in his words, fearing that he might lose control and end up in bed with his Master again, so he pretended not to like him.

Shi Mo, burdened with ulterior motives, constantly feared that his true intentions might be revealed, hence he also pretended to dislike him.

In truth, both of them were people who genuinely didn't care whether he could cook or if his clothes were washed properly—these trivial domestic matters meant nothing to them.

Xue Meng was different from the two aforementioned individuals; Xue Meng would pretend to like him.

Naturally, this liking was not of that nature. Xue Meng genuinely and sincerely adored his master, Chu Wanning. However, among the three disciples, Xue Meng found himself the least able to tolerate many of Chu Wanning's habits. But, in order to earn his master's praise, Xue Meng would bravely suppress his true feelings and utter with a disingenuous heart, "Master is truly amazing!" "Master's clothes are washed so impeccably clean!" "Master's simple dish of greens and tofu is utterly delicious!"

But the Scroll Monster was different; it was essentially a version of Xue Meng devoid of any personal feelings for Chu Wanning.

Thus, on this night, when Chu Wanning encountered the Scroll Monster, their conversation went like this:

Scroll Monster: "Are you the most talented actor here?"

Chu Wanning: "Yes."

"Tsk, you're not even as good-looking as me."

Chu Wanning: "..."

As expected, that was how Xue Meng saw him.

...Well, he did indeed lack in appearance. But it didn't matter; his personality could make up for it. He had already rehearsed with Xue Meng before, so there shouldn't be any mistakes.

He asked calmly, "Do you want to hear a song?"

"No, I hate listening to songs, especially those decadent tunes from Kunlun's Treading Snow Palace. They give me a headache." The Scroll Monster popped a sweet into its mouth – perhaps it was still a bit afraid of Jiang Xi from being beaten earlier. Although it had yelled that it would come back as Jiang Yechen while fleeing, it was still cautious tonight and hadn't disguised itself as Jiang Xi.

Tonight, it had taken on Xue Meng's appearance.

Thus, Chu Wanning saw his most obedient disciple leisurely swinging his legs before him, munching on sweetmeats with utter disregard, and brazenly say, "Hey, let's chat about life."

"Certainly."

"Do you usually cook?"

"I'm proficient only in making wontons."

"...Are you serious? How useless."

Chu Wanning couldn't help but widen his eyes.

...Did he hear incorrectly?

Did Xue Meng think he was useless??

There must be some misunderstanding, his meaning hadn't been conveyed properly.

Thus, Chu Wanning explained, "I can do other things, but I'm not very good at them—I heard you enjoy cooking? You get upset when someone takes your cooking utensils, right?"

"Who said that? Nonsense!" the Scroll Demon retorted. "A true gentleman keeps away from the kitchen. A manly man like me doesn't cook!"

"…Isn't this your new hobby?"

"Certainly not!"

Chu Wanning: "…"

...Alright, he got it.

So Xue Meng had been lying to him all along!

Chu Wanning fell silent for a moment, his brows lifting slightly as a cold glint began to form in his eyes. Excellent, he was curious to know just how much truth Xue Meng had been hiding from him.

Their subsequent conversation became even more perplexing and tense.

Scroll Demon: "Can you wash clothes?"

"Immerse it in water, then let it dry."

"Wow! Even a dog is cleaner than you!"

"..."

"Will you see me off standing and greet me back kneeling?"

"You're not from the Land of the Rising Sun."

"Wow! Even a dog is more virtuous than you!"

"..."

"Can you be obedient and composed, not retaliating even when being hit or scolded?"

"I doubt you could even defeat me."

"Wow! Even a dog is more gentle than you!"

"..."

"Can you win the affection of my parents and master?"

"I'm talking about our feelings, not your master's."

"Wow! Even a dog is more sensible than you!"

"..."

"Would you mind if I practice martial arts for twelve hours every day, leaving no time to chat with you?"

Chu Wanning's face had already turned slightly green from anger, his expression clearly annoyed.

Xue Ziming... Xue Ziming!! He had originally believed that this disciple would never deceive him, that his likes and dislikes were straightforward. But he hadn't expected Xue Meng's thoughts to be so...!!

He gritted his back teeth and said angrily, "There are only twelve hours in a day, don't you need to sleep?"

To his surprise, this "Xue Meng" was even more fierce. "Sleep, sleep, all you think about is sleeping! Can't you be more energetic? Be positive, more optimistic! Focus on being a good husband and father, stop always thinking about going to bed, getting pregnant, or gaining status through your children! Read more cookbooks instead of romantic novels! Become an innocent and loving wife!"

"..."

There were too many ridiculous points in this speech, leaving Chu Wanning momentarily at a loss for words. He could not even utter half a sentence, so furious was he that he felt like spitting out blood! He suppressed his anger and glared fiercely with his wrathful phoenix eyes at the scroll demon's face, which resembled Xue Meng's.

After a while, his thin lips trembled as he angrily said, "You..."

"What's wrong? I'm just speaking the truth. As my wife, one must be honest and pure, not always thinking about those licentious and lewd things. Ah, I don't think you're suitable – look at you, lazy, bad-tempered, unable to bear loneliness, and unsatisfied desires." The scroll demon got up with a disdainful expression as it continued, "Forget it, forget it. I heard people say that the Qingling girls in this building were virtuous and gentle, but it turns out they were all lying."

"..." Chu Wanning looked as if he was about to be angered into fainting. He was the master of three disciples. Mo Ran had made him angry to death before, Shi Mo had done the same, and he had thought that Xue Meng was the most worry-free one, never causing him any trouble.

He never expected that a scroll demon would elicit Xue Meng's true feelings – now all three of them were revealed to be problematic!

"I'm not talking to you anymore," the scroll demon who looked like Xue Meng turned around and left, "Goodbye!"

At that moment, the real Xue Meng was hiding in a room next door to Chu Guan with Mo Ran and the others, listening to the commotion. Elder Chen Xuyuan held a sand timer and muttered, "Oh, it's almost time. Master Chu is truly worthy of his title. It's just a little more until a cup of tea's worth of time has passed, and that demon will be knocked out. Hehe—"

Before he could finish the third 'hehe', there was a sudden explosion of blinding electric light from the neighboring room, accompanied by the scroll demon's cries of agony—

"Someone's attacking me!!! This hurts so much!!!"

Amidst the chaos, Chu Wanning's furious voice echoed: "I'm hitting you!"

"Wahhhhhhhhhh!! Help me, please!!!"

The crowd panicked and rushed over. Upon opening the door, they saw Chu Wanning holding Tianwen with a radiant glow, its golden light entwining the neck of the Scroll Monster. The creature's tongue was lolling out, its eyes rolled back, seemingly on the verge of fainting. Chen Xuyuan hurriedly intervened: "Oh Master Chu, please calm down! You can't kill it! If you do, everyone's secrets will be exposed!"

Chu Wanning's dark brows knitted together in anger as he thundered: "So what? What could be so disgraceful?"

Xue Meng quickly spoke up: "Master..."

But to his surprise, Chu Wanning was in no mood for him either, snapping: "Shut up, Xue Ziming! After I deal with this thing, you'll be next!"

Xue Meng: "????"

What was going on with Master?! Not only did he not address him as 'Lord,' but he was now threatening to punish him!

A myriad of emotions flooded Xue Meng's heart. He wasn't sure if he should feel happy or anxious. On one hand, he missed his Master's temperamental side after such a long time. On the other hand, he was terrified by...

Whatever the Scroll Monster had said to his Master that made Chu Wanning threaten him with such vehemence! !

As the Scroll Monster was on the verge of whimpering its last breath, Mo Ran hurried over to place a hand on its shoulder. "Wanning, let it go for now."

Chu Wanning's gaze was sharp as a bayonet. "I'll release it after I kill it!"

Mo Ran found himself torn between laughter and tears. "Then it'll be too late. All our secrets will be out."

Chu Wanning snarled. "I have nothing to hide. Do you?"

With a smile, Mo Ran coaxed, "Of course I do, but sometimes it's not about owing someone an explanation—it's just that we don't want others to know."

Chu Wanning frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Um... for example..." Mo Ran lowered his head, gazing into Chu Wanning's ear as he whispered softly.

Xue Meng noticed how Mo Ran's long eyelashes remained still. His dark eyes held a helpless smile and deep affection, his lips slightly parted as he spoke. When he finished, Chu Wanning suddenly retracted his Tianwen Sword.

Chu Wanning seethed. "You—"

Mo Ran seemed to lower his eyelids in a shy smile. He was undeniably handsome and mature, yet the dimples on the sides of his cheeks lent him a touch of youthful innocence.

Chu Wanning seemed to want to confront him, but Mo Ran suddenly held his hand and smiled, saying, "Sorry, I was just asking the scroll for an honest answer."

"..."

Then he lowered his head, turned his face, and interlaced Chu Wanning's fingers with his own. His warm breath brushed against Chu Wanning's ear. In a low voice that only they could hear, he said, "But I don't want anyone else to know what position I like best when Wanning and I are... intimate."

It was supposed to be a sultry and passionate declaration of desire, but unfortunately, Mo Ran had no idea what the scroll demon had told Chu Wanning earlier. Thus, upon hearing the last few words, Chu Wanning reacted as if his tail had been stepped on. He slapped Mo Ran's head and reflexively retorted angrily, "What? ! What are you talking about?! Don't be so decadent! Be more positive and optimistic! Think about supporting your spouse and raising children, not always dwelling on these messy things! Read more cookbooks instead of those frivolous novels! Be a pure and loving wife!"

Everyone in Peach Bud Manor: "...."

Xue Meng: "...."

Mo Ran: "???"

Only the scroll demon seized the opportunity to jump up, shouting, "Yes, yes, yes! You're right! You've learned my essence! Congratulations!" It swiftly leaped out the window using light footwork, yelling menacingly as it flew, "I, Xue Ziming, will definitely come back! Wahahaha!!"

"..." At that moment, Xue Meng suddenly understood why Jiang Xi had been so furious yesterday, even to the point of wanting to kill.

That demon was genuinely despicable.

Indeed.